The only thing better than the Kansas University football team’s 40-37 upset over rival Missouri?
The accolades that followed it.
Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing was named the Big 12 Conference’s offensive player of the week, and safety Darrell Stuckey earned defensive honors Monday, two days after helping the Jayhawks top Missouri for the first time in three seasons at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.
Reesing, a junior from Austin, Texas, completed 37 of 51 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns against the Tigers, including a game-winning, 26-yard strike to receiver Kerry Meier with 27 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Stuckey, also a junior, represents the first Kansas player to be named defensive player of the week since Charlton Keith in 2005. The Washington (Kan.) High product was responsible for all three of Missouri’s turnovers, intercepting two passes and forcing and recovering a fumble in his best game of the season.
Asked following Saturday’s game whether he could have done anything else to help his team against the Tigers, Stuckey smiled and shrugged.
“Maybe returned one,” he offered.
Reesing’s final pass to Meier, meanwhile, was nominated as a Pontiac Game Changing Performance. Fans can visit pontiac.com/ncaa to watch clips of each of the four finalists and vote on which school will receive a $5,000 contribution to its general scholarship fund.
On the final two drives of Saturday’s victory, Reesing was 9-for-12 passing for 117 yards and two touchdowns as he topped Missouri for the first time in his Kansas career.
“I get this feeling when I watch him, you can almost see this competitive spirit that radiates from him,” said Kansas coach Mark Mangino of Reesing’s late-game performance against Missouri. “In the fourth quarter, you could just see that he was trying to take control of the game, and he was determined to pull a positive outcome in the situation that we had.”
Kansas players and coaches aren’t scheduled to be made available to the media until at least Sunday, when FOX will air the annual BCS bowl selection show.
Officials from both KU and the Insight Bowl said Saturday that the Jayhawks likely are headed to the Dec. 31 bowl in Tempe, Ariz., although it will not be official until Sunday.
